Katherine A. ("Kassie") Helm, Ph.D., is a first-chair counsel who represents leading innovator pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in patent litigation and patent-adjacent litigation matters. Her doctorate in neuroscience allows her to leverage her scientific background alongside her legal acumen to develop and execute winning positions for life sciences companies in all phases of district court litigation and Federal Circuit and other circuit court appeals, and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She has prevailed in high-stakes cases representing life sciences companies as both plaintiff and defendant in patent infringement actions and as both petitioner and patent owner in Post Grant Reviews (PGRs) and Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs) at the PTAB, as well as in interferences and appeals. Dr. Helm is fluent in French and frequently involved in patent disputes with multijurisdictional aspects, including post-issuance patent proceedings around the globe. She regularly plays a leading role in coordinated global patent disputes involving co-pending ex-U.S. proceedings involving biologic therapeutics in the European national courts in patent revocation, nullity and infringement actions, as well as in opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO) and on appeal before the Technical Boards. Dr. Helm and her team have also been successful in utilizing U.S. discovery mechanisms under 28 USC § 1782 to assist with foreign patent litigations and EPO proceedings.

Dr. Helm is a founder of the New York chapter of ChIPs (Chiefs of Intellectual Property), a global nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing and connecting women in law, technology and regulatory policy. She is also a founder of the Lead Counsel Summit, a forthcoming force in the industry for female lead trial counsel. Dr. Helm currently serves as a Vice Chair on the Federal Circuit Bar Association’s Bench & Bar Planning Committee. In 2021, Dr. Helm was individually recognized as a winner of Dechert’s Samuel E. Klein Pro Bono Awards, for her work on behalf of military veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In 2023, Dr. Helm was appointed Vice Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL) for the 2023-2024 bar year and appointed to the ABA-IPL’s Task Force on Improving the Durability and Reliability of the Patent Right for the same period. Dr. Helm has been recognized by numerous publications for her expertise, including by IAM Patent 1000, where in 2023, she was described as someone who “excels in biologics litigation and is a go-to for some of the industry’s major players to handle their most important disputes.”